U.S. child brides face more mental illness - study

NEW YORK Aug 31 (Reuters) - Child brides more often face
psychiatric disorders than women who marry after they turn 18,
according to a study that is the first to try and gauge the
mental toll of child marriage, which is already tied to several
health problems.

So far, most research has focused on child marriages in low-
and middle-income nations in Africa and Asia, where it is often
rampant. But the report, published in Pediatrics, said that the
United States also has a fair share of underage brides.

Based on a government survey from 2001 and 2002, the study
estimated that as many as nine percent of U.S. women took their
vows when they were under the age of 18.

"Child marriage increases the risk of lifetime and current
psychiatric disorders in the United States," wrote Yann Le Stat,
at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research
in Paris, and colleagues.

"Support for psychiatric vulnerabilities among women married
in childhood is required."

About 9.4 million women in the United States married at 16
or younger, and 1.7 million were no older than 15, according to
the government survey.

Blacks and Native Americans were more likely to be child
brides than whites, Le Strat and his team said.

Face-to-face interviews with nearly 25,000 women who were at
least 18 showed that 53 percent of those who had been child
brides had some psychiatric disorder, such as depression or
anxiety.

That compared to 49 percent of women who married as adults.
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